ADDIS ABABA – Following a 1-1 draw with the visitors Fasil City at the Addis Ababa stadium on Sunday Saint George maintained the Ethiopian Premier League football club competition leadership on 25 points from 13 games. Last week they (St. George) had a 1-0 away win over Wolwalo Adigrat University in Mekele.
That win coupled with the defeat of the former leaders Coffee helped them to take league leadership. This is a jump little expected four weeks ago when they were 12th in the line-up. With two wins and a draw they continued to remain at the driving seat. With one match at hand against Adama City they have the chance to extend their leadership. This time the 1-1 draw wasted their chance of extending their leadership by five points.
St. George got this place because of the continuous defeat of the previous leaders Coffee. Once again on Saturday Coffee suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the lowly side South Police at the Addis Ababa stadium.Coffee were defeated 1-0 by the defending champions Jima Abajifar last week.
To the shock of their fans this was the third defeat in a row. The first loss was against Mekele Saba Indertaby the same 1-0 margin. The last week second defeat sparked the fans to go against their own players, coaches and the management. Though the confrontation was put under control the angry fans requested immediate recovery from this sharp fall but it was not to be so.
After winning 5-2 over Mekelakeya on Saturday, that is, with three wins in a row Mekele Saba Indertatook the second position on 23 points from 11 games, two points adrift of the league leaders. Mekelakeya are now 14th on 10 points from 11 games. Their current performance is not healthy. They conceded 15 goals in three matches. With this trend it is difficult to jump up the ladder.
The coach Seyoum Kebede must take swift action to improve his side. For Mekele Saba Inderta who have three matches at hand there is a wider opportunity to hunt the season’s trophy more than others. This was indeed a big win. Considering their current performance winning the remaining three matches couldn’t be out of their(Mekele Saba Inderta) reach.
If that is the case they, Mekele Saba Inderta, will take over the league leadership. When they (Mekele) beat South Police 2-1 they became fourth in the lineup on 20 points from 10 games. Now they are comfortably jumped to the second place after the win over Mekelakeya. This will be the second big attempt to eye for title for Coach Gebremedhin Haile in two seasons.
Last season Gebre was the winner of the Premier League with Jimma Abajifar. That achievement was indeed phenomenal. If Gebre gets that kind of surprising win, getting the season’s title may not be far from his reach. The defending champions Jimma Abajifar dropped two points as a result of a 1-1 tie with Bahir Dar City.
Sidama City who secured the third place on 23 points from 12 games succeeded in collecting the full three points with a 2-0 win over Dedebit. With only four points Dedebit are 16th from 16 teams. This is a terrible result. Hawassa City conceded a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Dire Dawa City.
The result gives relief for Dire Dawa. Well, the last six weeks the stadium in all parts of the country had shown relative peace. No crowed disturbance has been registered after the Hawassa City-St. George encounter was interrupted at the Addis Ababa stadium. By then the federation has decided the game to be played the next day at a closed stadium. That sharp and severe decision forced all club fans to go back to their senses and respect the fair-play rule in the wake of that incident.
Herald FEBRUARY 5/2019
BY SOLOMON BEKELE
